Gloss-enhancing floor care compositions are well known in the art and in commercial markets. Many of these compositions comprise cross-linked polyacrylates, and are marketed as gloss-enhancing treatments or polishes. The compositions are applied to the floor, which is then buffed either by using large and expensive buffing or polishing machines, or manually using a cloth, sponge or any other suitable means known in the art for buffing or polishing. In the latter situation, the person typically needs to kneel, has to apply the product by hand, and perform several buffing or polishing steps in order to obtain the desired gloss result.
Once applied, these compositions leave a coating of the polymer on the floor, which is semi-durable and becomes soiled over time and, thus needs to be removed before reapplication. In order to remove the coating, one or more stripping and cleaning treatments are required, often including ammonia. Additionally, most commercial gloss treatments are used as polishes alone, and do not provide any cleaning benefit. In conclusion, gloss polishes are cumbersome and inconvenient as in-home floor care products.
To provide the desired consumer experience, floor cleaning compositions preferably need to both clean and gloss. This is a challenge as the cleaning and gloss enhancement agents must be fully compatible. Moreover the gloss enhancement agent must be chosen to be easily strippable, more preferably be self-strippable, so as to prevent build-up over time which results in a visible residue. By “self-strippable”, it is meant that, upon repeated use of the cleaning composition containing the gloss-enhancing agent, the composition removes, at least partially, the coating formed during earlier use, and a new coating is formed. A self-stripping composition can be easily and completely removed by an identical composition that lacks the gloss-enhancing agent. Care must also be exercised to ensure that the properties of the composition, once deposited on the floor, do not change as a result of external factors, including temperature and relative humidity, often leading to stickiness or dullness of the surface.
Floor care is particularly important in the case of wood, for which conventional aqueous cleaning products and methods (e.g., mop-and-bucket) are known to induce swelling and contraction of the wood surfaces leading to unsightly warping and cracking of the wood over time. As such, when aqueous compositions are applied to wood floors, they must be quickly dried to prevent damage.
Aqueous cleaning compositions for enhancing floor surface gloss are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,604 discloses a floor cleaning composition in the form of a dispersion that incorporates a high molecular weight copolymer and a lower molecular weight copolymer. WO 95/00611 discloses a cleaning composition for hardwood floors comprising an alkyl pyrrolidone surfactant and a vinyl pyrrolidone gloss copolymer. European Patent No. 0 215 451 discloses a floor cleaning composition comprising 0.5%-10% surfactant and 0.1%-4.5% of an alkali soluble, non-metal cross-linked polymer having a minimum film-forming temperature of 0° C. to 70° C. and 0.01% to 5% by weight of complexing agents showing an alkaline reaction. U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0099570 discloses compositions containing polymeric biguanides that clean and enhance floor tile gloss. JP 2001/131495 discloses the use of 3-8% acrylic resin for cleaning floors and faster drying times without loss in gloss. U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,934 discloses floor polishing and coating compositions consisting essentially of 1% to 13% styrene-acrylic copolymer with a weight ratio of monomers from about 2:1 to about 3:1, a second copolymer consisting of interpolymerized (meth)acrylate-(meth)alkyl acrylate groups, fugitive and permanent plasticizers, ammonia and other minors. The compositions clean and provide gloss to floors and the coating is easily removable with household ammonia and detergents. However, these compositions suffer from one or more of the problems described above, e.g., leaving residue on the floor, or require additional steps, including the use of irritating chemicals such as ammonia, to remove the coating, or are not self-strippable.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an aqueous floor cleaning composition that enhances surface appearance gloss, especially for wood surfaces, without leaving residue. It is another object of this invention to provide a gloss-enhancing aqueous floor cleaning composition that is self-strippable. It is another object of this invention to provide a composition that enhances aqueous solution drying time, thus minimizing the deleterious effects associated with water-induced wood swelling. It is yet another object of this invention to provide an aqueous composition that does not leave a tacky or streaky residue, and is not susceptible to increased stickiness or dullness at varying temperature and humidity conditions. It is yet a further object of this invention to provide an aqueous cleaning composition that will protect wood surfaces upon repeated use of the composition.
Surprisingly, it has now been found that these and other objectives can be achieved using the composition disclosed herein. The inventive composition does not require the use of plasticizers and can be used in combination with conventional cleaning tools, such as rags, sponges, strips mops, and the like. The composition of the present invention can also advantageously be used in combination with disposable absorbent cleaning pads, especially absorbent cleaning pads comprising superabsorbent polymer. It can also be used as a composition embedded in pre-moistened wipes or pads.